Heart of handball, and the dream of winning gold for India in 2018 Asian Games

Heart of handball, and the dream of winning gold for India in 2018 Asian Games

Khushbu scaled walls to play with boys, and soon beat them hands down.

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Amitabh Srivastava

January 5, 2018

ISSUE DATE: January 15, 2018

UPDATED: January 5, 2018 16:56 IST

Khushbu Kumari, 23, police constable and handball player

She was in Class 8 when she fell for handball. It wasn't the wisest choice for a girl growing up in a remote village, watching her parents struggle to put food on the table. But nothing could stop Khushbu Kumari. Not the neighbours, who badmouthed her, not her grandfather who forbade her from stepping out of home. Khushbu scaled walls to play with boys, and soon beat them hands down.

HEADY DREAM

Winning gold for India in the 2018 Asian Games

STRAIGHT TALK

"Boys have two arms and legs and so do girls. So why can't girls do better?"

In 2012, the Bihar Handball Association selected her for training at the Sports Authority of India centre in Lucknow. On returning home in 2014, Khushbu found herself locked up at home while her family looked for a 'suitable boy' for her. But she didn't let them have their way. When the Handball Federation of India picked her for the 2016 South Asian Games, the family let Khushbu go on the condition she would get married as soon as she returned.

Khushbu seized the opportunity. She cleared the Bihar police recruitment test and became the captain of the Bihar women's handball team. By the time she was back, she was a police constable. Who could dare pressure her now? Since then, Khushbu has played at home and overseas. With her monthly salary of Rs 28,000, she has gifted her parents a new home.

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